1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color image processing apparatus and storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image forming apparatuses such as printers and copying machines, which adopt a digital system that forms an image based on digital drawing data, have prevailed in place of those which adopt an analog system, upon development of digital apparatuses. In such image forming apparatus, developing materials (toners) and inks are used as color materials used to form an image on a recording medium. Then, it is demanded for the user not to waste toners as much as possible. Under such background, for the purpose of reducing the cost of color materials, some image forming apparatuses include a function for executing print processing while reducing the consumption of color materials (toner saving function) in addition to a normal image forming (printing) function.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-244475 discloses a technique which executes tone conversion of an input image by changing a color conversion table and gamma correction table to those for a save mode in the save mode of reducing the amount of color materials consumed.
However, in the aforementioned related art, although the user can understand the fact that the consumption of color materials are reduced, but in practice it is difficult for the user to know how the consumption of color materials are reduced. That is, a mechanism is needed to reduce the amount of color materials consumed that are used to form a color image with reference to an index with higher utility upon clearly expressing a resource saving effect.